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Who Dey Revolution Manifesto

Preamble

IN THIS TIME of perpetual Cincinnati Bengals incompetence and futility, with zero playoff wins in the nineteen seasons since the WhoDeyRevolution Godfather, Paul Brown, passed away in 1991 and handed the team to his fortunate son, the Despot, Mike Brown;

Introduction

WE, the members of the Who Dey Revolution, in our fervent dedication to the Cincinnati Bengals and fanatical desire to transform our hometown team into perpetual Super Bowl contenders, call for a popular revolution of fans to demand comprehensive reform to the managerial decisions and approach of Cincinnati Bengals ownership, management, staff and players, and hereby call for the adoption of the following Who Dey Revolution Manifesto:

Manifesto Demands

THAT the Mike Brown, Katie Blackburn, Marvin Lewis, along with every other member of the Bengals management, staff and personnel, state publicly to all Bengals fans, “I will do everything in my power to help the Cincinnati Bengals win a Super Bowl;”

THAT Mike Brown will hire a general manager, drastically expand the scouting department and relinquish all control of player personnel;

THAT all training, rehabilitation and medical facilities are considered best-in-class compared to other NFL teams;

THAT the management fill the team only with players who fit the system, both mentally and physically, and are not reluctant to makes changes to player personnel when needed, regardless of cost or loyalty concerns;

THAT offensive and defensive line depth is considered the top priority for all player personnel decisions;

THAT all decisions made by ownership, management, staff and players, both on and off the field, are judged only by this criterion: “Does this help the Cincinnati Bengals win a Super Bowl?”

Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis Headed Towards Showdown over Chris Henry

That's what I said when I read the ESPN.com story that quoted Chris Henry's agent Marvin Frazier, stating the the Bengals had preliminary interest in re-signing the troubled wide receiver. After cutting Henry following his arrest for assaulting a UC student, the Bengals are actually considering bringing back a person who clearly has not earned the right to play professional football anymore.

What people do not understand, is that there is quite a battle going on behind the scenes between Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis over Chris Henry. If you actually listen to what both sides have said the past few weeks, starting with the Annual Bengals Media Luncheon, it becomes very clear.

At the Bengals Luncheon, which took place on Tuesday, July 22nd, Marvin Lewis said the following, leaving no doubt to where HE stood on the issue.

"I'm not interested," Lewis said. "It's not productive for our football
team. You have to be a productive part to be an NFL player. There are
responsibilities of being an NFL football player. It's not a right."

This was the first comment from the club about Henry's agent stating the Bengals were interested since this limp-wristed prepared statement from team PR director Jack Brennan:

"Chris is presently under NFL suspension, and until such time as he may
be reinstated, we are not in position to comment," the team said. "Even
in the event he is reinstated, he is no longer our player, and rarely
if ever do we comment on any player who is not under contract with us."

This quote was prepared, so the Bengals (after making contact with Henry and his agent following the charges being dropped) were obviously ready for some kind of press on the subject. If the Bengals front office had no plans to sign Chris Henry, the quote should have been:

"We have no interest in signing Chris Henry. Period."

At the same luncheon, Mike Brown states his case on troubled players (i.e. Chris Henry) with 1530 Homer's C.Trent Rosecrans:

"I guess the
world is divided up between redeemers and non-redeemers. I happen to be
a redeemer. I think people can be made better and right. If that's a
fault, so be it. These guys misstepped, they made mistakes and they
paid prices for it verging on ruinous, but that doesn't mean I don't
like them personally, I like them as people. I regret what's happened
to them and I regret they're no longer here. As far as going forward,
we don't want that kind of behavior. We've tried to be more conscious
of the guys we bring in than maybe we were before. In all honesty, if
you look at their records, contrary to some of the things you hear,
they were not as difficult cases in college as some make them out in
hindsight. Things just conspired to undo them. They were, at least in
one case, tragic. That's all history now. We're going forward and we'll
try to go forward with the kind of guys we can count on, the kind of
guys who are not just good players, but good citizens."

If Mike Brown wants to be a redeemer, then he should be running a halfway house, or working for social services. Nowhere in that rambling quote does he say what Bengals fans have been dying to hear for nearly two decades. WE ARE HERE TO WIN FOOTBALL GAMES.

It's our take that Mike Brown is clearly establishing his position to the fans (and indirectly Marvin) that the Bengals will continue to take chances on high risk, high 'talent' players, no matter what anyone else has to say about it (even the head coach).

"We keep spending all this time on the knuckleheads instead of on the
good guys; that's a problem," Lewis said. "When you spend all your time
coaching knuckleheads and not spending the right amount of time with
the right players in the right direction because you're putting out
fires over here, putting out fires over there ....I think we've tried to work through that this spring and I think we're
over it because we've had that kind of attitude we're not going to
waste time or fool with you if you're a knucklehead. We've got to move
on."

In the end, it's clear that Lewis and Brown had numerous discussions...again...on the issue during the time between the luncheon on July 22nd, and the start of training camp on July 27th. And, it's clear that Mike Brown was not getting the message.

If the Bengals sign Henry, my guess is that Marvin Lewis quits at the end of 2008. It is clear that this is tearing him up inside, just the idea of re-signing a guy who has made so many mistakes after so many second chances. Lewis would be powerless in the locker room, unable to discipline anyone. Not only that, but it's yet another player that he can't count on. I realize there are only 32 jobs out there, but Lewis knows enough people in the football community and is too good of a coach not to get another job. And if Lewis walks away from the Brown family...God help us all. Marvin was right back in January 2003. Places don't win and lose. People win and lose. The people running this organization just don't have the drive, the determination, and the will, to win. Even sadder is that they refuse to do anything to change that fact.

Let us clear up another topic. If you think NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's visit to Georgetown last week was just to lunch with some players and tour the Toyota plant, you are kidding yourself. Even in the midst of handling the Brett Favre train-wreck in Green Bay, there's no doubt Goodell was in town to give a directive to Mike Brown: Steer clear of Chris Henry. You've forfeited your right to take chances on players like that. We will see if Mike Brown listens.

If the Bengals do sign Henry, Bengals fans have to ask themselves
this question: "What the heck are we rooting for now?" Clearly, you
cannot be rooting for the group of individuals that make up this
organization that consistently refuse to look at their track record of
failure. They continue to make poor personnel decisions because of
their inflated ego or 'that's how we've always done it', and no one is
going to tell us otherwise. If this team stumbles into success this
year and, let's say, wins a playoff game...that will buy the
organization (in their eyes) at least 10 years of goodwill and
validation that they don't have to change one thing. They don't have
to change their GM situation, scouting situation, how they update Paul
Brown Stadium, or how they treat the most loyal fans in the NFL. Status quo, the two most beautiful words in the Bengals dictionary.

As a Bengals fan, I root for the Bengals because I love the city of
Cincinnati with a passion that will never die. I want this town to be
a winner, and to be displayed in a light that shows it's true value as
one of America's great cities. Right or wrong, having a winning sports
franchise helps that image immensely. Just look at Boston right now.

I root for guys like Reggie Kelly, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Carson
Palmer. I root for guys like Dhani Jones, Andrew Whitworth and Corey
Lynch. I root for a guy like Willie Anderson...who has given his
heart, soul, and body to this franchise...all for one, fleeting playoff
berth in 2005.

Most of all, I root for Bengals fans who support this
team year in and year out, who have given so much financially and
emotionally to this franchise, with very little return on their
investment.

Mr. Brown, please do not re-sign Chris Henry. Resist the urge to
cripple Marvin Lewis in the locker room. The foreseeable future of
your franchise is riding on this decision.

That's what Mike Brown thinks of constructive criticism and guidance, even when it's coming from the commissioner himself. Assuming Brown hasn't changed (and he is no more capable of change than a rock is), Goodell's visit may actually exacerbate Brown's desire to sign Chris Henry.

Not only will he sign Chris Henry after Goodell's visit, but he'll probably sign the rights to Michael Vick and two or three random guys from the Hamilton County Correctional Facility who he thinks can be redeemed and of course are willing to play for the Bengals for free as long as they get a reduced sentence.

It has been becoming more and more obvious that Marvin doesn't have the power inside the organization that everyone thought he had. Which makes some of the bewildering personel decisions a whole lot more understandable knowing that Mike is still screwing things up.